Just Dickens About
by TC591
Summary: This is a Torchwood story with the influence of "A Christmas Carol". Set after "Children of Earth" but before "Miracle Day". Rated M for language (just incase). It's Christmas Eve and Jack's out of control. But then he gets a visit or two. I don't own TW, any of the characters or "A Christmas Carol". NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED.
1. Chapter 1

**I had been trying to upload this all day Christmas Day but, as you probably know, the login/profile functions were showing 503 error. So here it is.**

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Jack was different now. There was no getting away from it at all; Captain Jack Harkness was a very different man to the one that used to run Torchwood Three. The man who had decided to wait a hundred years or more for his Doctor and decided to use that time to make the man proud. The one who had turned Torchwood from mercenaries to police officers of the extra-terrestrial. The man who had offered Toshiko Sato a 'get out of jail free' card, the man who had offered Owen Harper a reason to live, the man who had offered Ianto Jones a way to do some good and the man who had offered Gwen Copper a chance to make a difference in the universe. That man was gone because now Captain Jack Harkness was standing in his castle screaming at the only remaining member of his team.

"Gwen, what do you think this is? This is not some fucking civil service job, you don't get holidays or a _normal_ Christmas!"

"Then what do I get? When can I go home?" She was still pulling her coat on.

"You go home when I say you can! Sit down!" He was spitting but Gwen hardly reacted because this was how Jack was now. King of his castle and not about to let anyone tell him different.

"Jack, there is nothing going on! I already asked you to come to dinner with us and that way if there's anything we can both go from-"

"And what makes you think that I would want to spend Christmas with _you_?" Gwen froze, that was a new one even for this Jack. He was throwing his arms around as he spoke and a mist had descended over his eyes. "You with your _perfect_ life, in your _perfect_ street, in your _perfect_ house with your _perfect_ husband and your _perfect_ daughter? You think you have it so _great_? Well, I'm telling you something right now, none of that matters! None of you out there matter! What we do here? That's what matters, so take your coat off and sit the fuck down!" His jaw was tight and his breathing rapid. How dare she think that what they do did not matter?

Gwen just flicked her hair out of her jacket and looked at him with those eyes; the exact same ones she gave Rhys when he said much the same to her outside that restaurant. "My family _does_ matter Jack, my daughter _does_ matter. I love this job, I really do… or I did. But don't _ever_ try to make me choose because you won't like the answer. Now, I am going home to my family and I am going to wake up tomorrow to open presents and have dinner. You can't stop me, Jack. Torchwood has not just become your life now, _**you**_ have become it and I won't let that happen to me." She started to walk out.

"Gwen, get back here!"

She turned. "That offer of dinner still stands, if you change your mind." She walked away again.

"Gwen!"

"Merry Christmas, Jack." She left through the door, Jack let out a yell of frustration and kicked the little coffee table in front of the couch.

.

For the rest of the night Jack did what the two of them should have been doing, if she wanted her normal life then she could have it. She didn't know it yet but when Gwen turned up on Thursday she would be going home early and permanently. Eventually, after hours of monitoring the Rift while nothing stirred and catching up on paperwork, Jack rubbed his eyes and hair.

"You should really get some sleep, sir."

Jack spun around in his chair to see someone he never expected and the sight made his stomach lurch with pain. He almost threw up on the spot as his eyes filled with tears. "Ianto?"

"It's getting late." There he was, clear as daylight, standing in front of Jack looking the exact same as the last day Jack had with him.

Jack stood and walked towards him. "Ianto? Am I dreaming?"

"I wouldn't call it that, sir, since you're awake."

Jack reached out and his hand connected with Ianto's face but he knew it wasn't real. "Whoa, whoa… What's going on?"

"Did you think that I had somehow came back to life and sneaked in here without you noticing?" He smirked, but it wasn't mockingly, it was as if he was thinking of a particular memory that made him smile.

"You were never very good at sneaking… or hiding." Jack smirked a little at the memory he was now thinking of but he couldn't take in what he was seeing or feeling. He lowered his arm from Ianto's face; it didn't feel like him and if he couldn't touch him for real then Jack didn't want to touch this version.

"Yes, but in all fairness, sir…" He leaned forward a little. "I kind of wanted you to find me."

The pair laughed although Jack was still a little in shock. "This is new for me. I've experienced a lot but… never this."

"What? The great Captain Jack Harkness has never had a past lover come back from the dead before? Well, it's good to know I was your first something considering you were so many firsts for me."

"What is going on here?" Jack spun to hold onto the desk and put his other hand on his forehead. "Am I ill or has someone poisoned me?"

"No Jack, I'm here to warn you."

"Warn me? What is this, a Charles Dicken's novel?"

"Something like that. Sir, you've changed since I left you."

"I have not!" He looked up at the apparition insulted.

"You have and you know it. Look at you!" Jack smiled a little before catching himself, he had missed that amazing accent. "Jack… You're a monster."

Jack turned to Ianto with his face full of tears again. "Don't say that…"

"You are! When I died I had nothing."

"You had me!" Jack's tears had become uncontrollable now. How could Ianto say that, his Ianto? "You had Torchwood! I thought it meant something to you?"

"It did. Jack, you meant everything to me but when I died I never really _had_ you because you were never truly mine, not one hundred percent and that was fine, I understood it all and I still do. But when I died, the only people that remembered me for what I was, the only ones who truly knew me were all under this roof. I gave my everything to Torchwood… to you. I did so many great things and my whole existence is now a distant deceased relative in my family's future and a file and drawer in here. That's it! And when you die, sir, what will they say of you? Think about that, Jack. Really think about that tonight when it happens. Goodbye."

"When what happens? Ianto, don't go! I need you!"

"Do you? Then why couldn't you say it, Jack? In that building you held me in your arms, I told you I loved you and you couldn't say it back…"

"I love you! I love you, Ianto!"

"No Jack, you might have _loved_ me… There's no room for that in your heart anymore. It's full of darkness and hatred." And with that Ianto Jones left Jack behind once again.

"Ianto?" Jack ran to where he had been standing. "Ianto?!" Jack crumbled on the spot and lay there crying and mumbling to himself. "I love you Ianto, I love you… Come back…"

.

After half an hour Jack managed to drag himself up from the floor and up the stairs to his office. When he got to the top, he turned to shut his door and looked at where the man had been stood in front of him. He wasn't coming back. Jack closed the door and climbed down into his bunker. He pulled his clothes off while thinking about what Ianto had said to him. _Why couldn't you say it, Jack? What will they say of you?_ He then climbed into his bed and rolled to face the wall before he lazily drifted off to sleep as tears dried on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack woke to a familiar noise. He groaned and closed his eyes again, not now, not him. "Captain Jack Harkness?" He groaned again and pulled the covers over his head as he heard someone descend the ladder and stop. "I take it that you are Jack?" Now he hadn't heard _that_ voice in a long time.

Jack turned to look at the man who he was sure he would never see again. "Doctor?"

"The one and the same." He man just smiled at Jack as he came off of the ladder and put his hands behind his back.

Jack turned to take in the sight before him; the short hair, the leather jacket and let out a laugh. "I am definitely dreaming this time. What are _you_ doing here?"

"You owe me a drink." He smiled again and didn't budge.

"Alright, first Ianto and now you… What's happening?" That wasn't just any Doctor in front of Jack, this was the very first Doctor Jack had ever met, the man that had let his companion be kidnapped by a barrage balloon and told a room full of people with gas-masks welded to their faces to go to their room then saved all of their lives, including Jack's.

"Did he not explain?" He rolled his eyes. "We're going on a trip." He pulled Jack's covers and just stood there.

"Oi!" Jack stood up and came face to face with the Doctor trying to threaten him. "What if I don't _want_ to go?"

"Oh, do you not? Okay then, I'll just be going." He handed Jack the cover and made his way out of the bunker.

Jack rolled his eyes, dumped the bedding and pulled on his trousers before he followed him out of the office and into the main area of the base. "Where?"

"I though you weren't coming?"

"Just tell me what's going on?"

"Get in and I'll tell you." He disappeared into the TARDIS.

"'Get in and I'll tell you'…" Jack stuck his tongue out. "Bastard." He followed the Doctor in and closed the door behind him. It was exactly as it had been the first time he had stepped into it from his ship before it exploded. He could almost see Rose and the Doctor dancing around the console. "Where's Rose?"

The Doctor turned to look at him sharply, "Who's Rose?"

Jack's mouth almost fell open – if he hadn't met Rose yet then how did he know Jack?

"Doctor… None of this makes sense…"

"I know. Listen Jack," He pulled levers and the TARDIS started moving, "I don't even know who you are, I suppose that I'll meet you at some point in my future and that I've already met you in your past and if that is true then what I have just said should make sense to you?" Jack nodded. "All I know is that one day my screwdriver started acting funny, it kept beeping when I wasn't even using it and only in here." He was pushing and pulling various things very relaxed as he spoke. "So eventually I decided to really look into it, when I was finished with that business in the Radnox System – that took a while, anyway I found a book in my library," he pointed to a book sitting on a chair to Jack's right and Jack picked it up to look at it, "that I didn't put in there." It was a notebook of some kind, it had lots of different bits of paper and pictures tucked in it. "Don't open it, Jack, it had this in it." He took the book from Jack's hands and replaced it with a post-it note. It read 'Don't let Jack read the book, it contains his future and he needs to get there himself.' Jack handed the Doctor back the note and nodded. "I don't understand half of the things that I am saying to you, I don't even know you Jack, all I know is that I left myself instructions and if I left them to myself then I should follow them." Jack took in everything this man was saying – the man that had trusted him when he tried to trick them, the man who had saved his life and let him travel with him, the man who hadn't met his companion that would change his and Jack's life forever and the man who didn't even know him. "Do you trust me?"

Jack didn't have to think about it. "Yes."

The Doctor smiled, "Fantastic!" Then he pulled a lever and the TARDIS jolted to a halt. The two men walked to the TARDIS doors and as they opened Jack gasped. There he was. They were on the Boeshane Peninsula, in Jack's dining room looking at him and his family. Jack took a breath and ran back into the TARDIS before stopping to hold onto the console. "Jack this is a little different than what you or I are used to."

"I don't want to be here, not unless I can save them so if you are not going to let me then we need to go… Now." He turned to The Doctor breathing rapidly and trying not to cry.

"This isn't an adventure… We're not exactly here. They can't see us and we can't affect anything. It's hard to explain and I don't have the time but they can't see, hear or even feel us. It's like a mirage."

"Then why did you bring me here?"

"I wanted to show you what it was like. What _you_ were like before." He gestured to the door. "Just keep trusting me, Jack." Jack paused and then walked to the door. He stopped and took a breath. _You can't save them, just look, even if it's all about one last time then just watch them. One last time. _The men took a step outside and looked on at the scene before them. Jack saw himself as a child eating with his family and he recognised the meal.

"It's Christmas?" Jack looked to the Doctor.

The man smiled and thought for a moment. "In the book it says that a lot of things have happened to you, a lot of bad things and you've lost a lot of people which has affected you. You've become hard and lost who you were which just can't happen Jack, horrible things will happen to the universe, earth and its population if you're not there to stop it."

"I am there, I'm always there." He smiled as his father handed Young Jack bread.

"Yes you are, but not the Jack that Torchwood used to have and the Jack that it needs. You might not have realised but everything that you have been through, especially recently, has been slowly changing you and now it's gone too far. You're full of hate and regret."

"I've been through a lot since those days…" He wanted to cry at the scene before him knowing how it would end.

"I know you have, and that's why we're here. I'm here to show you how you used to be and how you were before it all corrupted and broke you. Come on." He put a hand on Jack's back and they reluctantly stepped back inside. Jack kept telling himself – _it's a mirage, I can't help them and I can't save them _as he closed the TARDIS door_._ The Doctor let Jack get himself together before he started up the TARDIS again. "That was you at your most innocent and happy Jack, before all the bad started to creep in. Now, we need to go a little further forward in your past."

"I don't understand why you had to use Ianto. Why him?" He wiped his eyes and looked to the man as he flew his spaceship around Jack's timeline.

"I don't know Jack, I haven't done it yet. How did it feel, when you saw him?"

"Like all of my deaths come at once. Seeing his face again reminded me of everything I've ever lost."

"Maybe that's why; you have pushed everything down and never dealt with it. Seeing him again might have brought it all to the surface."

Jack paused. "I cried. I told him that I loved him and cried when he left." The Doctor looked up before pulled the lever that would land the TARDIS. "I haven't done that in a long time. As soon as I heard him it was right there at the edge and when I saw him I felt… so weak. He disappeared and I just cried."

"Well… That's why Jack." He put his hand on Jack's shoulder. "Would you have come with me if you hadn't admitted your feelings to him, cried and remembered the pain?"

Jack smiled slightly, "We'll never know."

They made their way to the door way and stepped out again. This time they were met with a ball during the war. A ball that Jack remembered well.

"This isn't Christmas Jack but I had to show you something. I had to show you it from this side of the room." They were stood beside a table across from Past Jack. Jack remembered sitting at that table, and this Future Jack followed the Past Jack's eyeline. It was looking at Captain Jack Harkness… The real one. And, in turn he was watching Past Jack. "I wanted you to see it from his point of view. In this time and in this period of history doing what he is about to do… Was amazingly brave." The man stood and walked slowly over to Past Jack. "You told him to live this day like it was his last because you knew it was. You did that for him. You didn't do it so that he would dance with you, like he is now, you did it so that he wouldn't have regrets in his last moments." They watched as every person in the room watched the men dancing. "I wanted you to see it from his point of view because you were already able to see it all from his point of view." Jack looked at the Doctor a little confused. "When you chose that name to take you made a promise, much like I did, you made a promise about what kind of man you would be and what legacy you would continue on. You used to try and make him proud and I wanted you to see it again because you've forgotten." They watched as the men kissed and Past Jack disappeared. The Real Jack stood there crying, eventually one of his men walked to him and put his hand on the real's Jack's shoulder. When they turned to each other and hugged, the rest of Jack's men gathered round him to do the same. The Doctor and Jack stepped back into the TARDIS. "He took a chance Jack, it didn't matter to him that they accepted it, he was living that day like it was his last and on his last day… He wanted to dance with you."

Jack leaned against the railing thinking about the family dinner and that kiss. "Was he happy? In his last day, after that… Was that something that made him smile after the tears stopped?" Jack turned to The Doctor with tears streaming down his face. "I've asked myself those questions a million times and I think about my family every moment of every day. I think I've been trying to save them since I joined Torchwood. I just felt so helpless…" He trailed off. The Doctor put his own hand on Jack's shoulder and hugged him. "Thank you." The Doctor pulled back to look at Jack. "For showing me those again… My family and Jack. I always wondered what happened when I left Jack there… it _was_ 1941 after all." He smirked and The Doctor smiled. He walked to the console and kicked the TARDIS into action. "Where are we going?"

"Home."

"Home? Why? Is that what the book says?" The Doctor didn't answer for a while before Jack looked down. "I'm bare chested…"

"I noticed."

"I forgot about that…" They laughed as the TARDIS stopped again. "Why am I going home now?"

The Doctor walked to the door and opened it for Jack. Jack huffed and walked out of it but The Doctor took a step out of it himself. "I've showed you how things used to be Jack. But your night isn't over yet, Ianto was supposed to explain it to you. You'll get another visit tonight, from someone else you'll recognise and they'll explain it further… I have to go. There's a strange reading coming from a department store in London that I need to check out." He smiled and stepped back inside his TARDIS. Jack turned but spun back around as The Doctor stuck his head out and said the man's name again. "Jack, get some sleep and… maybe put some clothes on this time." They shared a smile and the TARDIS disappeared.

Jack rubbed his head and walked up to his office before jumping back to his bunker. This was going to be a long night and he needed some sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

This time the noise didn't wake Jack, what did wake him was a bang. He shot up to see The Doctor standing there in his bunker having just jumped down into it. "Hello, Jack."

"Oh god…" He leaned back down and rubbed his eyes. "I had a feeling it would be you."

"What? Why are you saying it like that?" He walked along the bunker a little looking at the floor. "Anyone would think that you didn't want to see me." Jack groaned and rolled over on the bed. "Jack!" The Doctor pulled the covers off of Jack as if it had been a table cloth. "Listen to me it's important." He then ran up the ladder with the covers, Jack growled as he got up and followed him. The Doctor stopped in the office and turned until he saw Jack's face, then he ran halfway down the stairs. "Jack, wait, wait, wait! Just hear me out!"

"I don't need to hear you out," He walked down the stairs as the Doctor walked backwards down them, "I've already had a couple of visitors tonight and I'm tired."

"Still not dressed either." The man smirked and Jack looked away to the side while laughing.

"Alright, you have two minutes." He walked back the way he had come, down the ladder to grab a shirt and emerged in the office again as The Doctor leaned against the doorway.

"I gather that I've already been here tonight. Well… I say 'me' but you know what I mean." Jack nodded. "That was to show you how it used to be and I'm here to show you how it is now."

"This is _really_ starting to feel like something out of an old novel. Alright… Lead the way."

"Well then… Allonsy!" He ran down the stairs in his brown suit and converse. Jack let out a laugh before yawning and following him still bare foot. He stepped into the TARDIS and looked around. "So, where are you up to?"

"What do you mean?" This Doctor was already spinning the rims on the TARDIS before Jack had even shut the door.

"Well, the last 'you' hadn't even met me yet so… Where are you?"

"Oh right, I see… Well, Martha just went home." He looked down at the console and swallowed. "It got complicated… She fancied me." Jack laughed. "What?"

"Nothing it's just weird to think that I had not long returned here after you dropped me off. Well… in your timeline anyway. And yet that was so long ago for me…" Jack took a breath. "Okay then…" The TARDIS stopped. "What now?"

"Now, Jack… I show you the present." He ran to the door and stepped out. Jack followed him onto the streets of Cardiff. "This is the same year, the same day but a bit earlier, before the shops shut for the holidays." They looked around to see people rushing around the shops, they were all wrapped up against the cold and carrying countless bags as they did their last minute shopping, Jack smiled at the Salvation Army choir filling the air with song, children joined in as they skipped passed and lights lined the streets as far as the eye could see. "I'm showing you what you're missing, Jack. Locked away in that base and bunker of yours all you see is what comes up on your monitors and what you have to aim a gun at. Look at this lot, this is the human race, Jack, celebrating life." He started pointing to various people and things. "They are laughing," He pointed to children running around, "smiling," he pointed to a man walking his dog through the streets, "stressing," he pointed to a woman who was rushing in and out of the crowds, "being honest," he pointed out a man who picked up a wallet in the street and ran after another man who had just dropped it to give him it, the man's face showed so much relief that he shook the man's hand hard, "being generous," he pointed to a woman with quite a lot of bags before gesturing to another woman giving her child money to put in the donation box and finally he pointed out three men walking along laughing and stumbling, " and being merry." The two men laughed before the bell rang out and a group of people emerged from the church. "While there is so much evil and bad in the world, Jack, the human race keeps the faith and cherishes the good in it all. And you…" He turned to Jack, "You're missing it all while you save the world." Jack smiled at a dad who started running around with his son shooting imaginary laser guns, in and out of the shoppers until the dad fell down in the street after the kid had shot him. They laughed together as the dad grabbed his son and tickled him. Jack laughed himself and looked up at the stars the kid started pointing to. The Doctor smiled at Jack even though he couldn't see it. "Come on." He walked back inside the TARDIS and Jack reluctantly followed him. Jack thought about the times that he, Gray and their Dad played back home before he noticed the book on the chair in the TARDIS.

"Did you write that?" He pointed to it when the Doctor finally looked up from starting the TARDIS.

"What? No… It was left for me."

"In your library?" Jack didn't attempt to pick it up this time. When he didn't get an answer and the TARDIS stopped he turned to see the Doctor watching him. "What?"

"Nothing… But this one might be a bit…Too perfect for you."

Jack just walked towards the door and opened it. He wished he hadn't. He was met with the sight of Gwen, Rhys, Anwen and Mary all getting ready to go to bed. The three adults watching and helping Anwen, who was five years old now, put out milk, cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer. Jack watched Gwen's face as Anwen insisted she had to taste the milk to make sure it was cold enough for Santa. Gwen and Anwen laughed as she told her daughter that she'd had enough and Rhys took his little girl to bed. Gwen and Mary started putting various things away talking about their plans for tomorrow and presents they have bought the others.

Mary looked at the tags on them all under the tree. "Who is this one for?" She held it up to show Gwen.

"That was for Jack." Jack suddenly felt guilty as the smile fell from Gwen's face.

"Oh, you're not still trying with that man! He's a horrible person Gwen, just leave him to it."

"Mum, can we not do this please?"

"Do what?" Rhys came back into the room.

"Gwen has gotten her boss a Christmas present."

"I know, I helped her wrap it." Jack looked at The Doctor in shock and he just smiled. Mary looked at her son-in-law confused. "Yes, he's horrible and mean and a dick but you didn't know him before, Mary, not really. He was kind, thoughtful and he risked his life a million times over for Gwen."

"Well if you hadn't been in that job then he wouldn't have had to."

"Mary just shut up!" Even Gwen was surprised at that. "I'm sorry, you know I love you to pieces because you're my family but Gwen was never happier than she was at that place. I saw it in her eyes, yes it was dangerous and yes I wished she wouldn't want to be there but she did and I wouldn't have taken that away from her. She loved that place and he would have done everything to make sure that she came back to me. And for that I will always love that man." Gwen hugged her husband.

"Why are they talking in past tense?" Jack looked to the Doctor and he didn't say anything because he didn't have to when Gwen spoke.

"Well… You won't have to worry anymore."

"Why?" Mary put the present back and stood up again.

"Because that Jack is gone and the Torchwood that I loved died with him. I've tried, I really have but I can't watch Jack torment himself anymore. It's not the same so, I'll go and see Jack on Thursday… I'm quitting Torchwood."

Rhys kissed Gwen's forehead. "Now, are you sure this is what you want?"

Gwen nodded. "Yes. My Jack Harkness died a long time ago."

Jack turned and walked back inside the TARDIS. He walked up to the console before he turned to look at the book. "Why can't I read it?"

"Because you can't." The Doctor picked it up and took it with him to the other side of the console sensing what Jack was thinking about.

"I didn't mean to change, it just happened when I was trying to deal with everything else. I don't want her to quit…"

"No?" The Doctor looked at Jack as he started up the TARDIS again.

"Of course not. I don't want Torchwood to change, I don't want me to change…" He rubbed his face. "I've just spent all of this time wishing I could have all of my team back and while I've been doing that I've been slowly losing the one person I do have left. Rhys is right… I have been a dick." Jack looked up to see The Doctor smile and stop the TARDIS. "Where are we?"

"Torchwood. My job is over Jack." He walked to the door and opened it for the Captain.

Jack walked out and turned to look at his Doctor. "What now?"

"Now Jack, you should really get some more sleep. It's, oh…" The Doctor looked at his wrist and realised he didn't have a watch.

Jack looked at his. "Nearly eleven?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. You need to get some sleep because your night isn't over yet Jack. I'll see you again later and… You're gonna need energy to keep up with that one." He looked at Jack with a strange look, like he was trying to make a joke that he didn't understand. As if he had read it out of a book written for someone else.

"Any chance you could give me an approximate time, Doctor?" Jack asked knowing the answer.

The man took a step inside and smiled before closing the door and dissolving in the air. Jack sighed and made his way back to his bunker for the third time tonight.


	4. Chapter 4

Jack woke up by himself this time and looked at the clock, it was six in the morning so he changed into new clothes and made his way up to get coffee. He didn't make it that far as he came to the door of his office and saw the TARDIS sitting there in the Hub but it looked brand new. As the door opened smoke escaped into the air. A man edged out backards with a fire extinguisher aimed inside and closed the door before spinning to look at Jack. "Who are you?"

"Jack…" Jack looked at the man wondering if he was actually dreaming this time. The cropped trousers, the shirt, the braces and the bow tie.

"Jack! Good I'm glad it's you!"

"Don't you remember me?" Jack looked at the man confused.

"What? Of course I do… I've been a little… busy. I forget things and faces, I remember eventually. Here." He handed Jack the fire extinguisher. "See, of course I remember you. You don't give just anyone your fire extinguisher. Now!" He opened the TARDIS door and poked his head in before coughing and looking back at Jack. "Ready to go?" He then disappeared inside.

"Is it safe in there?" Jack thought about putting the extinguisher down but decided that he was probably better taking it in with him. The man shouted something and Jack walked in waving his arms around trying to see. "What did you say?"

"I said, are you inside yet?"

"Yes." Jack turned as the TARDIS door shut on its own. "What is your role in all of this?"

All of a sudden the man appeared in front of Jack. "You could say that I… wrote the book."

"Why would I say that?"

"Because I wrote the book." He held the book up to Jack and then threw it into the smoke.

"Well, that was responsible." Jack walked towards the light he determined was the middle of the TARDIS and fumbled around trying to put the extinguisher on the floor.

"It'll turn it up again. Can't see anything so I can't see anywhere good to put it therefore anywhere is a good place." He waved his hands and disappeared. "I am here to show you your future, Jack. Oh, hold on that isn't meant to happen." Jack heard running and a loud bang. "Are you ready?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Of course you do. But I need to get out of here so… Geronimo!" Jack heard a noise and the TARDIS started up.

When it stopped the man ran to, what he could only assume was, the door like a dog welcoming it's owner. Jack couldn't think of a better way to describe The Doctor and Time. "Doctor, I can't see the way?" Before he could finish his sentence the man grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the door.

Jack was standing in a kitchen that he didn't recognise. He looked around trying to gleam some idea of whose house they were standing in. "Whose house is this?"

"Kids! I've put the DVD on for you!" A woman shouted over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen and a man followed her.

"I know her, Rhiannon; Ianto's sister." Jack took a step towards the pair.

"This is three years in the future, Jack."

"Rhi, I found this in the attic while I was clearing it. Whose is it 'cause it's not mine?" He put a box on the kitchen counter and Rhiannon turned to look.

"It's just a box of Ianto's things, Johnny." She hesitated then turned back to moving things around on the counters as the kids came running down the stairs and went into the living room.

"Well what should I do with it, do you want me to put it back?"

She didn't even turn around. "No, throw it out."

"What?" Jack couldn't believe it. "She hasn't even looked inside?"

"You sure love?" The man picked it up again.

"Yeah, he didn't care about us when we was alive so why would I care about his stuff now that he's dead?"

"Yeah, he thought he was so _important_." She hummed in agreement as her husband dropped the box in the bucket full of wrapping paper and joined his children in the living room.

"He _was_ important!" Jack shouted and The Doctor put his hand on her shoulder. "He is..."

"Jack… they can't hear you."

"But he did so much and… they don't even know." Jack turned around as his coat flipped into the TARDIS with The Doctor following him. "Where am I in all of this? I should have told them everything that he did, how many times he saved the world," He kept close behind the The Doctor as he walked to the console and started the TARDIS, "how many times he risked his life for us, all of us, not just Torchwood but the world, the _universe_! Ianto was right; when he died he had nothing."

"He had you?"

"I thought that too but now I realise that having me was the same as having nothing. I am nothing compared to that man; when I risk my life it doesn't mean anything but when he did it… He was amazing. He was a better man than me and they have no idea. He's just a distant memory to them and not even one that they cherish." Jack leaned on the railing and the TARDIS stopped. They walked to the door and stepped out into a street that Jack didn't recognise. "Where are we?"

"We are in Ireland, Jack. Lovely place Ireland, brilliant people if a little scary. Good scary though… Sometimes."

Just then a man ran towards them shouting over his shoulder. "Please! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He stopped in mid-air and fell down. A version of Jack from the Future who had been standing behind the man lowered his gun and kept walking.

A man ran along behind Future Jack talking to him. "Why did you do that, he made a mistake, he didn't understand?"

"I don't care, he killed those people so I killed him." Future Jack walked up to the man and with a quick glance he turned around. "This is Torchwood, kiddo! This is how I do things."

"But Torchwood used to be the good guys, the guys who fought to do the right thing when the rest wouldn't?"

Jack turned quickly and brought his face close to the lad's. "That Torchwood is dead just like everyone else, kid. There's just me now. I am Torchwood and I do what I want."

"Then, I'm sorry, Mr Harkness." Jack gasped as a shot rang out. "Merry Christmas, sir. From my mother…Lynn Pierce." Jack grasped at the man and fell to his knees. "And my sister… Jasmine. I lost my sister that day and ten years later when I was eight I lost my mother. She never got over what you did!" Jack fell onto all fours. "She killed herself and it was your fault, Harkness. So say goodbye to Torchwood because when _you_ die so does the darkness you bring into the world." He dropped the gun as Jack took his last breath and died. "I did it, Mum." After a minute when the man had turned away from the body Jack took his next breath. As he did so the man turned around to look. Jack picked up the gun and aimed it at the young lad.

"No!" This Jack shouted as he watched Future Jack shoot the kid.

"Torchwood will never die." He jumped up and walked away with a smirk on his face.

"Why did I do that? He was just a kid!" This Jack turned to The Doctor. "I have to stop this. I have to. Help me change this!" He ran back into the TARDIS and The Doctor followed him. "Where is it?" He searched around, the smoke had begun to clear.

"Jack, no!" The Doctor stopped in front of the Captain as he picked up the book.

"Why not? You said I have to change it and I _want_ to so why can't I read this if it's going to achieve that?"

"Jack, you need to get there on your own because that's how all of this happens. If you read that then you will change it, what you read won't happen. I promise you that it won't, Jack."

"But _you've_ read it?"

"I wrote it Jack, Everything that has happened has happened because at the end of all of this… I wrote it down. At the end. I need to get to the _end_ of this before I write it." He reached out and slowly took the book from Jack. "You want to change all of this then… Change it."

Jack nodded. "But how?"

"Jack you've seen a lot tonight." He pulled a lever and the TARDIS sprang into action. "You'll probably feel strange for a while but trust me Jack, this is not a dream." He put his hand in his jacket pocket and held out his screwdriver to Jack. "Oh hold on, that's not it." He looked at it before he put it back in his pocket. "That's my screwdriver, I kind of need that…" He patted all of his pockets before making noises of triumph.

"Different screwdriver as well as a different face?" They laughed as The Doctor produced a candy cane and handed it to Jack. "Em… Thanks?"

The TARDIS stopped for the last time that night and they stepped back into Torchwood, Jack turned on the spot as The Doctor stood in the doorway of his machine with his hands clasped in front of him. "Proof." He gestured to the candy cane Jack was still holding with caution.

"Right." Jack held onto it and wondered if the man before him remembered the things they had done together.

The man walked into his TARDIS, "Oh Jack…" he turned around and stuck his head out of the door, "Merry Christmas, Jack Harkness. Change the world… Captain." He saluted Jack who just let out a laugh as the door closed and the box faded from sight. He walked to the kitchen to pour himself coffee and sat at the table he had kicked in frustration earlier. Today was going to be different… and tiring.


	5. Chapter 5

"Oi missus!" Rhys picked up and threw a sprout back at his daughter.

"Will you stop teaching your daughter to throw food about?" Mary warned Rhys but she was smiling.

Then the doorbell went. "That's the doorbell?" Gwen looked to Rhys confused but not moving, telling him that she wasn't answering it as she picked up her cutlery to tuck in.

"I'll get it love." He stood up and walked into the hall. "Who could that be on Christmas Day?" After he opened the door there was some mumbling before Rhys appeared back in the room and Jack followed with bags.

"Jack?" Gwen stood up leaving her cutlery on the table.

"Hey Gwen… I'm sorry for just turning up like this but you did say the offer was still open?" She looked at him unsure of how to react to this. "I come in peace?" He put his hands up and realised he was carrying bags. "And with presents." He handed them to Rhys. "Can we talk…?" Gwen walked around the table and gestured with her head to the living room. "Rhys, can you come too?" Gwen and Rhys looked at each other before walking through where Rhys dropped the bags on the couch.

"What's going on Jack? If you're here to drag her back to work then-"

"No, no, no." Jack put his hands up. "I'm here to say I'm sorry."

Gwen turned her head slightly. "What?"

"I've been a dick." He looked at Rhys who didn't get the reference. "Ever since Ianto died…" Gwen looked down with sadness and misplaced guilt. Jack let himself tear up. Rhys was looking at Jack and hit Gwen to get her attention, she looked up and he pointed to the Captain. She saw him let a tear fall.

"Jack? Jack, what's happened?" She took a step forward to put her hand on his arm but hesitated, she knew exactly how Jack acted now and although this was obviously different she didn't know exactly what was going on. She crossed her arms and waited for him to explain.

"If only you could understand the night I've had..." Jack put his hands on his hips and looked up trying not to cry anymore. He took a long breath out and decided it was now or never. "I've just come to some realisations about everything that's happened over the years, and I never let on just how much Gwen, I never do because it's a lot... I play it down but it's certainly a lot. And it has affected me and it's changed me. I thought that those changes made me a better person and made me the man that led Torchwood. I've realised that although I _have _changed it's not for the better; I've become untrusting, dark and different. And I also realised that I'm in danger of becoming something more destructive than either of us can ever imagine. So I came here because I wanted to ask you not to quit."

"How did you know-" Gwen looked at Jack questioningly... Almost mistrusting.

He cut her off. "I wouldn't have put up with half of what you have from me, Gwen and I would have ran away a long time ago if I had..." He looked around at the decorations, the tree, cards and pile of wrapping paper. He looked at Rhys before looking behind him to the kitchen where Mary was talking to her granchild, "If I had what you had." He turned back to Gwen still with a glisten in his eyes. "Please… Please forgive me and please don't quit. I couldn't stand it if you quit, it would be bad enough if you decided that you didn't want to be there anymore but if you left because of me then... I couldn't handle it. I don't want to be the person I've become anymore, I don't. I want to go back to the Jack that I used to be," The image of his childhood flashed into his mind. "the Jack I promised to be," he felt that kiss again, "and the Jack that... Ianto loved." He saw that man again, the man dying in his arms and the man who stood before him not twenty-four hours ago telling him that he didn't have room left for love in his heart. "Ianto..."

"Why are you here, Jack?" Gwen's arms had fallen to her sides and she put that hand on Jack's arm.

"Because I can't do it without you; I can't change without you and I can't be Torchwood on my own. I need you to stop me Gwen. Because you with your _perfect_ life, in your _perfect_ street, in your _perfect_ house with your _perfect_ husband and your _perfect_ daughter? You think you have it so _great_? Well, I'm telling you something right now,"it was then that Jack reached into his inside pocket and handed Gwen a candy cane, she took it with confusion on her face but Jack didn't care because by the end of tonight they all would understand, "you matter." Gwen smiled at Jack and Rhys knew he was done for.

No one said anything for a few minutes before Rhys huffed. "Well come on then you two, the foods getting cold." He smiled and walked back to the table where his daughter was covered in gravy. "Look at you, you messy little angel!"

"Food's all over there, Jack. Help yourself." Gwen sat back down at her table and laughed at her daughter's face.

Mary stood up in front of Jack and the food. "I'll tell you one thing, Jack Harkness…"

"Mum…" Gwen looked back up at the confrontation.

"Wait, I just want to say this. If anything happens to her because you neglected her then I will spend forever making sure you never forget it."

"You won't have to, Mary. I'll do it to myself."

She looked at Gwen and Rhys then turned back to Jack standing there. "Then you get your coat off and sit down, I'll get you something to eat." She side-stepped him and picked up an empty plate. "Do you just want a bit of everything?"

The three adults shared a look of surprise before Jack winked. "Don't I always?"

"Oi you!" Rhys laughed and gestured his head to his daughter. Jack made his apologies and took his coat off before sitting down on the other side of Rhys.

Mary put a plate down in front of him. Jack then proceeded to tell Gwen about his night. The other two looked on slightly bewildered and Jack knew that Gwen only half understood but he wanted to let this family into his life. Then he told them about his plans; to visit Lynn and her family and that he wanted her to come with him when he went to the Jones's household tomorrow where he would tell them about the Ianto they never knew about. The Ianto that saved the universe, the Ianto that saved the world and the Ianto that saved their lives countless times. The Ianto that Jack loved.


End file.
